Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI) is a privately held, for-profit,

sports marketing Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades, however, a generally accepted definition does not exist. Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...

and

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

company based in Mira Mesa, San Diego, California. The company owns and operates over 40 large scale running, cycling, and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

events; of which includes the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series.

History

Competitor Group was formed by Falconhead Capital at the end of 2007 when the firm acquired Elite Racing, an operator of running events in the United States, as well as La Jolla Holding Group, LLC (''Triathlete'' magazine) and Competitor Publishing. In 2008, Falconhead Capital acquired Inside Communications, Inc., owners of ''

VeloNews ''VeloNews'' is an American cycling magazine headquartered in Boulder, CO. It is published by Outside and is devoted to the sport of cycling. History The magazine was first published as ''Northeast Cycling News'' in March 1972 by Barbara and R ...

'', ''Inside Triathlon'', adding them to the CGI business portfolio. With the acquisition of Elite Racing, CGI rapidly expanded its event production with the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series. In addition to the races already produced under Elite Racing, CGI has purchased under-performing

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

and half-marathon races as well as starting new races around the United States, sometimes receiving large tax breaks in the process. In January 2014, Competitor Group announced that it would cease publication of ''Inside Triathlon''. Originally called ''Triathlon Today'', the magazine was first owned by Inside Communication in 1993, a competitor to La Jolla Holding Group's ''Triathlete'' magazine. With both magazine now under one ownership the emphasis of CGI was placed on ''Triathlete''. Later, in July 2014, CGI announced their desire to focus on the running portion of their product portfolio. As a result, they were exploring opportunities to sell their ''Velo'', VeloPress and TriRock brands, but planned to retain ''Triathlete'' magazine. CGI was bought by a

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including le ...

Calera Capital Calera Capital is a private equity firm focused on investments in middle-market companies. Founded in 1991, the firm is currently investing out of its fifth fund, Calera Capital Partners V, which was raised in 2017. Calera Capital has offices i ...

in 2012 and then sold to the Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group in 2017; which owned the

World Triathlon Corporation The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) is a sports event promotion company owned by conglomerate Advance Publications, that produces the Ironman Triathlon, Ironman 70.3, the 5150 series of triathlon races, and other sports events. History In De ...

(WTC), operators of the Ironman Triathlon brand. With the acquisition, CGI was placed under the sphere of WTC's Ironman Group. In October 2017, WTC subsequently sold CGI publications ''Triathlete'', ''VeloNews'' and ''

Women's Running ''Women's Running'', formerly ''Her Sports + Fitness'' is a magazine geared towards female running enthusiasts. Published 6 times yearly by Outside, it is the only women's-specific running magazine available in the North American market. Accordi ...

'' to the Pocket Outdoor Media division of Pocket Ventures, which owns ''

SpaceNews ''SpaceNews'' is a print and digital publication that covers business and political news in the space and satellite industry. ''SpaceNews'' provides news, commentary and analysis to an audience of government officials, politicians and executives ...

.'' At that same time its ''Competitor'' magazine ceased publication due to its failing viability. In early 2020, Wanda Group sold CGI, as part of its ownership of WTC, to the privately held

Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, a ...

Events and products

Running

* Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series *

Carlsbad 5000 The Carlsbad 5000 is an annual five kilometer (3.1 mile) road running event that takes place each spring in the city of Carlsbad, California along the north coast of San Diego County. Organization The event is organized by Groundwork Endurance, a ...

*Muddy Buddy series *NFL Run Series

Cycling

*Singletrack.com *Veloswap – industry consumer show

Triathlon

*TriRock Series *Endurance Live – industry consumer show

Other

*Race It: Online event registration platform

References

{{reflist, 2 Sports holding companies of the United States Privately held companies based in California